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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here it is... The final chapter in the Nick and Amanda series. It's been seven years and I've been working like crazy to complete this. But I hope the ending is satisfactory and I hope you all enjoy. Thank you to Ali, who spent many nights plotting a lot of this series. Thank you to those who stuck around and kept reading even if you didn't review. Just seeing the numbers kept me going. Thank you so much.
Everyone woke up on Friday morning to go to Hollywood Studios, and Nick was excited. Mostly because he hadn’t been before. However, he was also excited because today was the day Brian was going to propose to Lisa. He went to Brian’s room on the floor above theirs to talk to him, to see how he was doing.

“Brian, are you okay?” Nick asked when Brian opened the door. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all the night before.

“I’m a wreck, Nick. I don’t know if I can go through with this. What if she says no?”

They went into the room and sat down at the table. Nick smiled at him because he remembered the first time he was going to propose to Amanda after coming home from Japan. He had the ring in his pocket for a few days and couldn’t wait to give it to her...Brian drove him to her house and he was so excited only to have Lance stop him.

“She’ll never love you…”



Oh how wrong he had been. It had taken a few years but they finally got together. They finally got married, had two beautiful children even though Celine was before their marriage happened. Nick was content and he wanted nothing more than to see Brian receive the same thing. Brian deserved happiness just as much as he did.

“Bri, she is going to say yes...she’s crazy about you. Just ask her. If you don’t do it you’ll go your whole life wondering what would have happened. Trust me. When I wanted to propose to Amanda, I knew what I was walking into...but I didn’t give up.”

“Nick, this is different. I haven’t talked to her parents because she was orphaned as a kid. I have nobody’s approval. I’m on my own. You had everyone supporting you, this is completely different than you and her.” Brian protested.

“You’ll be fine. Amanda and I arranged this trip, didn’t we? We fully support you and so does AJ. It’s going to go great. Just trust me.” Nick said, but this did not make Brian feel any better. He could feel his stomach doing backflips as he thought of the ring in his pocket, the ring he wanted to give the girl he was in love with.

“I think I am going to be sick.” Brian said, his face pale as Nick laughed.



Hollywood Studios was crowded, but the Carters had a fine day on the rides and attractions. Nick was really excited to see all the Star Wars stuff in the stores, and Amanda had to talk him out of buying Bryan everything they had.

“Come on, he’ll love it!” Nick said when Amanda told him to put the toy back on the shelf. He swung it around a bit, making noises as the baby watched. He didn’t seem very interested in the toy and Amanda gave Nick a look as if she were saying I told you so. Nick pretended to look disappointed and he put it away, moving on through the store.

“I thought it was cool.” Nick shrugged.

“Baby, Bryan can’t even talk yet. He doesn’t need a lightsaber.” Amanda laughed. Lisa giggled as she pushed the stroller with the kids in it, thinking of her own Brian and ended up choosing him a souvenir to give him when they went back home. She knew Brian would have had fun but of course he was probably working.

“Are you ok, Lisa?” Nick asked.

“I just miss Brian...I wish he were here.” Lisa said, sighing.

“He’d be here if he could. I promise.” Nick offered as he exchanged a glance with Amanda. They knew that Lisa would be completely surprised by Brian’s appearance tonight and it would work out great. At least they both hoped it would.



“Baby?” Amanda asked after they’d made a pit stop for some ice cream. Celine was happily licking her kiddie cone while Amanda and Nick shared a large cup. Nick looked up and she smiled at him.

“Were you as nervous as Brian when you wanted to ask me to marry you?” Amanda asked.

“The first time or when I actually asked you?”

“There were two times?”

“Well, yes. When I came home with Japan and found out you’d moved in with Lance and you guys were engaged…” Nick confessed. He thought he had told Amanda where he had bought her ring but maybe he hadn’t. Now was a good of a time as any.

“I really had no idea you were coming. I found out that Lance had deleted your message on my machine when Brian called and basically told me off.” Amanda told him. Now everything made sense, why Nick had shown up with flowers and looked hurt , why he had stopped talking to her for a while after he came back. It was because of Lance. Lance had crushed his spirit and Nick had almost given up. She was glad deep down that Nick had changed his mind and stayed in her life after all.

“I bought your ring in Japan and kept it, I wore it in a chain around my neck hoping that I could give it to you one day. So when we went to New Jersey, your father gave me his blessing and I knew I had to ask you or it would never happen. I know we didn’t really date a long time but I was really in love with you. I still am. I knew I wanted to be together and I’m glad you said yes.” Nick smiled. Amanda kissed him, smiling back as they walked away from the souvenir shop.

“I can’t believe you had the ring all that time.”

“JC thought I was insane. I kinda was at the time. We’d never even been on a date but I was in love. I was a kid. I didn’t know any better. I just wanted to be with you. I want the same for Brian and Lisa...they’re in love and I want them to have what we have. They deserve it.” Nick said. He looked at his children in the stroller and smiled again. If he had to live the rest of his life like this, he was perfectly happy with it.



“Nick, I can’t do this.” Brian said, appearing next to him where the Carter family had gotten a spot for the fireworks display. Nick quickly made sure Lisa was still in the bathroom.

“You can do it, dude. Stop being so nervous.”

“My heart feels like it’s in my stomach. I just want to get rid of this ring already.” Brian replied as Amanda laughed.

“You’re going to be fine. Just calm down. She loves you and you love her. It will be great.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Amanda. You’re a woman.” Brian blurted. He saw Lisa out of the corner of his eye, and quickly vanished into the crowd again.

“Who were y’all talking to?” Lisa asked as she made her way over to where Nick and Amanda were sitting down with the kids. The sun was starting to set and the fireworks show was about to begin, so everyone was waiting. Nick had bought a bag of cheddar popcorn to snack on and Celine was complaining she was sleepy.

“I promise you can go to bed soon, honey. The fireworks are going to start soon. When it gets dark. We are all going to bed after. Okay?” Nick said, holding her in his lap.

“Okay daddy.”

“I could have sworn I saw y’all talking to somebody.” Lisa pointed out again.

“We were talking to each other.” Amanda supplied, noticing Nick unable to think of an excuse. They all sat there talking for awhile until suddenly the first notes of the Star Wars theme song began to play. Everyone was standing now, filming on their phones or other devices. The fireworks were beautiful. Scenes from Star Wars played on a small screen in the middle of it all. Lisa took out her phone to film it to show Brian when she got home and noticed a message come across the screen.

Turn around.

It was from Brian, but he wasn’t here. Was he? Lisa turned around as the next bit of music began, and almost dropped her phone when she saw Brian standing in front of her. He was smiling, the biggest smile she’d ever seen on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Lisa drawled in surprise. He kissed her, and they seemed to kiss forever, because they hadn’t seen one another in days.

“I’ve been here the whole time. I was just waiting for the perfect moment to surprise you.” Brian answered as the music changed again. Bright red and orange fireworks appeared over them, and the voice of Obi Wan blared over the speakers. Luke Skywalker walked towards the two suns of Tattooine as Brian kissed Lisa again. He could feel his stomach doing backflips as he reached into his pocket, feeling for the ring hiding inside.

“I’m so happy to see you, but how did you get off from work? You’re always busy. I thought you’d never take off from work to be with me.” Lisa said.

“That’s not entirely true. I’m gonna have to take off from work in a couple months.” Brian replied.

“What do you mean?” Lisa asked in confusion.

“I’m gonna have to take off for our honeymoon.” Brian said with a smile. Lisa looked even more confused.

“But you haven’t-“

Before she could finish, Brian got down on his knee, holding up his ring. He held it out for her, looking up at her into her eyes with his hands shaking.

“Lisa….I know I have not really told you how I felt about you, I have been trying to put it into words but I couldn't. All I know is that I love you and I would love it if you would marry me.”

He held the ring a bit higher, secretly just wanting to shove it on her hand and be done with it. Lisa stared at him, blinking and Brian could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was sure he'd have a heart failure out of anxiety alone. They didn't say anything for a long time.

The fireworks above them were now red again, and Nick and Amanda were watching the two of them intently.

“Brian…” Lisa whispered, putting her hands to her face as she started to cry. Brian looked at her, thinking he had really screwed things up worse.

“Lisa…”

He didn't get to finish what he wanted to say because Lisa’s lips interrupted his sentence. She cried as he kissed her back, nodding as he put the ring on her hand and kissed her again, his hand through her hair. The fireworks show continued around them as Nick and Amanda watched their newly engaged friends.

Nick kissed his wife and hugged his daughter tightly, smiling at his best friend..there wasn't anything that could have ended better than this particular moment.

From this moment on, their lives were blessed. Nick was content.